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Contents

Leaving the Old World

The Empire of Itinerate Tree Dweller is a nation forged in fire and cooled in the blood of its fallen foes. Following the destruction their various homelands in northern Africa, a large coterie of Roman soldiers and merchants decided to press eastward to find a mythical home that was spoken of by Alexandrian prophets. These Romans took with them slaves garnished from the wars with the Germanic tribes of northern Europe, ensuring a strong work force for the city the Romans were to found. The Romans pressed onwards, narrowly missing the foreign enemies and forces that would surely destroy them.

Always East

Always east was their motto, until they reached the southern tip of the Indus landmass. Upon reaching this southern tip, the Romans decided to build large ships and sail from this place, staying close to the shore to maintain a system of navigation. Their journey took them to various places in the pacific, taking them to China and beyond. At last to the very first island of what is now Hades Cluster, the "homeland" that these Romans were seeking. Comparable to a Mediterranean island, Hades was a large and fertile island with mountain protecting three sides of it, leaving one long stretch of land open for farming and settling.

A New Land

Along the massive mountain ridges of Hades sat a large but dormant volcano, which was named after the island itself, Hades. The new settlers thought of this place as a holy ground and established several temples at the volcanoes foot. Sulphur-laced water would pour from the springs of the volcano, flowing through the temples and providing visions to the oracles. These waters were sacred to the Roman settlers.

Brick and Mortar

Illness broke out, probably a result of Indus fever that some of the travelers brought over with them. Many of the Roman women died, leaving the Roman men largely without women. Out of fear and sadness, the Roman soldiers slew the Germanic men and took their women as their own. After several generations the two cultures mixed, forming the basis of the Ninthian tribe. The German wives never completely forgave the Roman men, so slowly they brought their children to follow a more German culture than Roman. Women slowly became active in government and introduced sweeping changes to the laws, "evening" the genders and eventually causing men to be over powered both economically and legally standing. The "last straw" was legislation that would allow for women soldiers. This led to a culture war, causing the men to overpower their women and lay the foundation that women could never be involved in politics and that men controlled every aspect of the household.

Social Progress

Having settled the gender differences, the Ninthians made sweeping changes to the caste system of the land. The prior caste system being two tiered, rich and poor, would not allow for a maintainable military force. Eventually the idea of a meritocratic government was instituted. Only men who severed two years in the military could vote in elections, this eliminated the aristocratic control of the government and allowed for poor citizens to better themselves. This system has more or less remained intact.

The Great Collapse

The idea of a "race" or "tribe" was not introduced until a growing group of non-Ninthians started integrating into the island. People came from all over the pacific to become part of this system. The Ninthians saw this situation and decided to further divide the social structure of the nation. There would be nine individual tribes which all had their own unique territory and local customs. These tribes would all follow the established meritocracy and the system could once again sustain itself. Non-Ninthians were moved out of Hades and onto nearby islands, they sent representatives to partake in the government. Unfortunately, this was disastrous for the Ninthians who found their former control of the government slipping. The Ninthians tribe, predicting a collapse in the government withdrew from the government and let the other tribes continue the system that was in place.

The Great Xerik

With the Ninthians in a state of seclusion from the outside world, the other tribes fell into civil war, mostly due to cultural differences, which had always been settled by the Ninthians who were experts at diplomacy. The other tribes begged the Ninthians to return to the government, but the Ninthians had long abandoned the democratic meritocracy, and opted for a monarchy under Xerik the Burning One. Xerik, seeing the poor state of the other tribes, decided to invade and take control of the other tribes, one at a time. He was successful for a while, but quickly met opposition from a large and angry eighth tribe, which broke through the Ninthians lines and managed to slay Xerik before being crushed by the Ninthians. The loss of their king but their victory over the other tribes led to an angry society, anger that was inflicted on members of the other tribes. About this time, the fifth tribe was wiped out by the Ninthians.

Birthright

The stage was set for a massive reclamation of land and wealth by the Ninthians, which was accomplished by the middle of the century. Other tribes were now serfs on Ninthian farms, which grew prosperous and fruitful. The descendants of Xerik were benevolent and often stepped aside so that a Ninthian Senate could rule; Xerik's line was only ever called in during times of decadence. Xerik's descendants would destroy the decadent Senators and restore rule to the Senate. For this reason, the Senate declared the lineage of Xerik to be permanent Consul-Generals. Over time the need for expansion became evident. Trade was common amongst the islands surrounding Hades, but many of the poor islanders were not wealthy enough to purchase the expensive goods produced in Hades. The Ninthians choose to take over these islands and establish heavy production and infrastructure in them; they were now wealthy enough to afford Hades’ goods. These islands swore allegiance to Hades and were dubbed Hades Cluster, and the whole region became quite prosperous.

Expansion

The population of the islands soon increased because of the boost in food production. The need for living space became evident, as did the need for expansion. Large islands were known of that were close to Hades, but already inhabited with persons whose technology and warrior skills matched those of the Ninthians. The Ninthians decided that in order for them to be victorious, they would require an edge in both technology and numbers. Technology was not a problem, as the Ninthians had always been apt at developing powerful tools of both civilian and military use. Despite the growth in population, however, their military numbers were lower than required. The Ninthian military had always been voluntary, based on the meritocratic system established long ago. Some people, especially merchants, saw no reason to do service for Hades as they were quite content not being involved in politics. In order to fix this situation, Hades turned to the line of Xerik, who were quickly placed in charge of the situation. For the first time in history a military draft was issued, forcing every one in twenty males into military service. These conscriptions would make the bulk of the military, but were merely foot soldiers. The heavy cavalry was composed of the volunteer military, which had experience in battle.

This expeditionary force was ordered to advance on the outlying islands one at a time, establishing a supply route and protecting the surrounding waters for shipping. Over a period of three years the outlying islands fell to Hades, many of the captured soldiers were conscripted as substitutes for the Hades soldiers who died in battle. Upon attaining victory and the capture of all the outlying islands, the Hades soldiers commenced an extensive campaign to eradicate the natives already inhabiting the newly acquired land. A veritable genocide took place. When it was time for a return to the homeland, the soldiers inquired as to their reward for service. They inquired if they were to attain citizenship and if they were to gain rights to the land taken. The Senate voted to give them citizenship, but not to give them any land. The sons of Xerik protested in favor of the soldiers, but were scoffed at by the Senate. From that point on, soldiers tended to be loyal only to their military commanders, remembering the betrayal handed down by the Senate.

A Time To Kill

Xerik’s descendants realized their reemerging power as both politicians and military commanders. They decided that the time was ripe for them to take control of what they saw as their nation by birth-right, the support of the military forces only reinforced their resolve. The sons of Xerik crossed the two rivers that guard the capital city of Hades and laid siege, hoping that the Senate would surrender, so that a bloodbath was avoided. The Senate, desperate to protect their own lives, voted unanimously to hand over all power to the sons of Xerik, a dynasty was established.

Unfortunately, a group of rogue senators decided that instead of a military based retribution, they would destroy the sons of Xerik, they figured that without a powerful leader, the military would fall in line with the wishes of the Senate. The senators hired assassins to kill the three male members of the line of Xerik, they were successful in killing two, but the third son escaped the attempt and fled to the military encampment outside the walls of the city. The following morning, they military laid siege again, destroying the Senate and painting the palace with the blood of the slain senators. The remaining son of Xerik marched into the city and established his kingdom. With the Senate destroyed and the monarchy established, the nation was ripe for a rebirth both politically and militarily. The monarchy established a system of Governor-Generals each who controlled a territory awarded to them by the monarchy. Each Governor-General awarded tracts of land to his soldiers, down to the lowliest foot soldier. This system of government remains intact to this very day.

Holy Wars

Around this point in time, a new religion was starting to spread into the region. As the world grew, so did the spread of trade and as trade grew, culture and religion spread. Being so distanced from Rome allowed the people of Hades to maintain the ancient cultures of their people. While Rome fell to Christianity, Hades remained loyal to their pagan gods. Christianity came to Hades under the guise of the Roman Catholic Church. Priests came to the islands and spread word that all Romans must convert to Catholicism, saying that the pagan gods had confessed that they were merely demons that aimed to subtract worship from the god of the Israelites and Christians. Conversion took place, but was especially rampant in the poor. A few rogue groups remained loyal to the pagan faith, including many prominent members of the royal family. The Catholic Church attempted to form a coup within the government, they wished to bring the island of Hades into the Roman Empire, but this was rejected both by the people and the military. All the Roman priests and missionaries were executed. To appease the demands of the remnant Christians, a Ninthian papacy was formed.